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Turkish
Foreign Affairs Minister Ismail Cem, attending a
programme at the CNN Turk TV, evaluated the latest
developments on the Turkey-EU relations and enumerated
the important factors for Turkey’s relations
with EU. In his speech Ismail Cem stressed that the
Cyprus issue is not a precondition for Turkey-EU
relations.
Pointing
out that the Cyprus issue is an “external factor”
that can effect Turkey’s EU relations, Ismail Cem
stated that they, as the Foreign Ministry, always in
all their efforts differentiate the Cyprus issue from
their EU relations and that they have struggled for
this from time to time.
Underlining
that an expression as “Turkey’s EU membership
process is related to her attitude on Cyprus issue”
was tried to put into the Helsinki decisions, Ismail
Cem, stressed that they have resisted for this.
Ismail
Cem said “Legally, Cyprus is not a precondition for Turkish-EU relations”, and
added that the only issue related with Cyprus for
Ankara, is the expression to the effect that
“support will be given to the
UN initiatives on Cyprus issue at the Helsinki
Summit.”
Continuing
Ismail Cem stated that “however, the Cyprus issue
would absolutely have political effect on Turkey-EU
relations and that is an issue that EU should
seriously think over it. I do not know whether EU
wants to disturb its relations with Turkey or not for
this reason. This is a political event. Legally, EU
has no right.”
ERTUGRULOGLU
IN MALAYSIA
TRNC
Foreign Affairs and Defence Minister, Tahsin
Ertugruloglu, is in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of
Malaysia, and participating in the Foreign Affairs
Ministers’ Special Meeting on Terrorism of the
Islamic Conference Organisation.
During
his stay in Kuala Lumpur, Ertugruloglu will have
contacts with the authorities and deliver a speech
under the title of “Terrorism in the 21st
century”.
Following
the completion of his contacts in Malaysia,
Ertugruloglu will go to Spain in order to have
contacts in Madrid.
ERTUG:
“CYPRIOT GREEKS, TURKS HAVE EQUAL POLITICAL
STATUS”
TRNC’s
Washington Representative Osman Ertug
responded the article entitled “Compromise for Cyprus” which was
published in the Washington Times newspaper on March,
20, 2002.
Following
is the full text of Ertug’s article published in the
Washington Times on March, 29, 2002, under the title
of “Cypriot Greeks, Turks have Equal Political
Status”.
“The
March 20 story, “Compromise for Cyprus?” while
giving powerful insight into a complex and difficult
issue, nevertheless contains certain misconceptions
and misleading cliches that require a response.
For
instance, the concept of majority and minority
politics is not applicable in the particular case of
Cyprus, where there have always been two sides and two
peoples who, regardless of their relative size, have
equal political status. The agreements of 1960 gave
the two parties forming the then-binational republic
“co-founder partner” status, while the
secretary-general of the United Nations, in a relevant
report to the Security Council (S/21183),
described the relationship between them as
“not one of majority and minority” but of two
political equals.
Similarly,
it is wrong and misleading to call the legal and
justified Turkish intervention after the Greek coup
d’etat of July 1974 an “invasion”. This timely
intervention saved the Turkish Cypriots from total
extermination and prevented the complete takeover of
the island by Greece, hence the destruction of the
independence of Cyprus. It is significant to note that
the U.N. organization has always used the neutral
terminology of “intervention” in its official
documents.
As far as European Union involvement in the
Cyprus dispute is concerned, it is unfortunate that it
may have already done its damage to prospects for
a settlement by signaling to the Greek Cypriot
side that it could achieve membership without first
reaching a settlement. This leaves the other side with
hardly any incentive to reach a fair compromise with
the Turkish Cypriots on equal terms.
Any
further involvement on the part of the EU, therefore,
should only be aimed at correcting this wrong, by
freezing the unilateral and unlawful application of
the Greek Cypriot side until a viable and just
settlement is reached on the island.
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